Mixed race: Cora, age 18, born of a negro father and Indian mother (dorsal),

ca. 1881

<p><strong>Student label, AAS 349 / ART 364, Seeing to Remember: Representing Slavery Across the Black Atlantic, Spring 2017:</strong> </p> <p>This image belongs to a series of photographs commissioned in the nineteenth century by the Société d’Ethnographie, a club of French ethnographers who studied the variety in humanity, frequently forming race-based conclusions. This photogravure features a young woman, Cora, completely nude and facing away from the viewer. Cora’s nudity and positioning have two seemingly contradictory effects. The first is a dehumanizing quality associated with nudity and the absence of her gaze. At the same time, her positioning harkens back to classical European sculpture. The statuesque pose, the vague background, the bare skin, and the expressionless—or, in this case, nonexistent—face all point to this reference. The crumpled rug beneath Cora breaks the sterile feel of the photogravure and provides a sense of intimacy and domesticity.</p> <p>The photogravure of Cora is part of a long tradition of photographing black people in a way that denies their humanity. Beginning in the nineteenth century, photographers such as Albert d’Arnoux Bertall intentionally photographed their subjects nude and vulnerable, which emphasized the powerlessness of black people in the dominant culture and justified racist notions toward them. This particular image—like many of this type and subject matter—was part of a larger series of ethnographic materials that circulated throughout the West. </p> <p><strong>Jennifer Bunkley<br>Princeton Class of 2018<br></strong></p>

<p>Bertall’s <em>Mixed Race: Cora, age 18, born of a Negro Father and Indian mother</em> is one of many historical photographs circulated throughout Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These photographs were particularly favored by ethnographic groups, which focused largely on studying the variety in humanity. However, in attempting to document the differences among humanity, these types of groups often formed race-based conclusions that were used to form and justify racial hierarchies. </p> <p>Cora is positioned in a way that simultaneously emphasizes her status as a female and rejects her status as a woman. The dichotomy between black and white women is set up by Cora's presentation and positioning. Cora is breaking the rules of being a proper woman in the nineteenth century in several ways. She is naked, and her hair is cut very short. However, the photograph also shows how female her body is. There is a great focus on her naked hips, buttocks, and legs. The result is that Cora is viewed as physically female, but not a woman, which effectively dehumanizes her.</p> <p>Cora is further dehumanized by the absence of her eyes. If Cora were facing the camera, the viewer would be forced to confront her humanity through her gaze. The absence of Cora's gaze makes it easier for the viewer to reduce her to simply a body, rather than a person. The title of the photograph further degrades Cora by focusing on her race even before her name. </p> <p><strong>Jennifer Bunkley<br>Princeton Class of 2018</strong><br>(prepared for the course AAS 349 / ART 364, Seeing to Remember: Representing Slavery Across the Black Atlantic, Spring 2017)</p>